Rock Band Impressions

Now that I have 2 weeks of Rock Band playing under my belt, some impressions:

 

- The drums are insanely fun!

 

- The drums are insanely fun!

 

- The drums are insanely fun!

 

That is all.

 

. . .

 

Ok, fine, I'll elaborate.

 

Upon opening the huge case and spending a good 40 minutes trying to open each individually wrapped instrument, I was ready to rock.  That first night it was my girlfriend, my sister, two of my buddies and myself, all highly anticipating the game.  We had one extra person, so we all took turns swapping instruments and just having a blast.

 

Impressions of the instruments:

 

Guitar - I've heard of people having technical problems with the guitar and not liking its design and feel.  I myself have had no technical problems and after adjusting to it, I really like how it feels.  It is larger and just looks so much cooler than the GH "toy" guitar.  The strum bar does not click at all, something many people are enjoying (the GH one was pretty loud).  I have found though that without the clicking I am having a slightly harder time keeping the beat when I am repeating many notes in quick succession.  I actually used to rely on the audible click of the GH guitar to keep the beat.  I will have to work on that.  All in all I like it but I have actually spent very little time with it so far.

 

Mic - The microphone has a nice heavy, sturdy feel to it.  Singing can be entertaining if you are familiar with the song.  I live singing Creep myself.  But, this is the least interesting instrument to talk about.  Which leads me to . . .

 

Drums - I think I have made it pretty clear by now that the drums are the true highlight of Rock Band.  The guitar has lost a lot of its initial magic after 3 Guitar Hero games, but the drums are so new, fresh and fun that they have justified the $170 price tag by themselves.  They can be intimidating at first.  Even on easy I think they are tougher to pick up than guitar for the uninitiated.  But after playing through easy and medium and just starting hard, I can say that they soon begin to "click".  And man do you have fun when that happens.  The toughest part is getting used to using your foot for the bass pedal.  But that is also the most rewarding part of the drums and what really makes you feel like a drummer.  I won't rest until I am able to 5 star songs on Expert!!!!  Which btw, looks insanely tough!

 

Miscellaneous game impressions:

 

- The game does not have the extra "clean" look of Guitar Hero.  It uses a graphics filter to add grain and other effects to the image.  Took me a while to like it, but I now think it looks great.  While the player will barely notice (have to look at those note charts) if you are just viewing the game it has a much more authentic, realistic look than the Guitar Hero series.  The shots really do make it feel like you are at a concert and the close ups of the guitar playing are fantastic.  The character's hand positions are so dead on, it makes me think that they have individual guitar animations per song.

 

- Even when playing with 3 others, the screen never looks cluttered to me.

 

- I do not know if I like these rectangular notes as opposed to GH's more circular variety.  I especially do not like that hammer-ons and pull-offs now are indicated by "smaller" notes, since they are harder to spot.  The "fret boards" that the notes scroll down on are also plain.  I kinda like GH's decorated ones.

 

- I really like being able to see how many stars you have at any one time and how much more you have to go for the next one.  Yes, it can be distracting if you are obsessed like I am at knowing how you are doing (which leads to me messing up more often than not), but I still like it.

 

- You do not get a detailed breakdown after a song on how you did per section, etc.  I wish Harmonix would have kept that.

 

- Band World Tour mode is an absolute blast and soooo much better than the regular solo tour.  Unfortunately you can only play it with at least one other player and since you cannot play that mode over Live, it really kills it for me.  I don't know why they do not let you play that mode by yourself.  Sure, it will not be as much fun as it is with your buddies, but it is better than not playing it at all because your friends can't come over every other day!!!!  I really, really don't understand why Harmonix made it multiplayer only, especially when they knew it wasn't going to be available over Live.  Bad move.

 

Needless to say, I am having a blast with the game so far.  Once I am done with drums I will quickly move on to guitar.  And who knows, I might try a singing career as well.  Lots of replay value in this one.